Guardians of the Boundary (The Conjurors Series Book 3) (8 page)

Valerie and her friends spent
the night in Arbor Aurum in a hollow tree, and the next morning, Cara led them
to one of the long ropes woven from a golden material that formed ladders that
fell over the edges of the floor of the city. Gideon had decided to stay in the
city for a few more days to meet with friends.

“Come home with us for a while,”
Cyrus begged.

Cara smiled. Even though she’d
only been gone a few months, she seemed more mature. “Soon. I’m really helping
here. Ceru and I have been working as kind of ambassadors to the People of the
Woods, helping them see that not all Conjurors are bad.”

“Why do they trust you?” Kanti
asked, curious.

“I was able to help them save a
species of flower that was dying off. No magic could help it, but luckily
science could. We developed a fertilizer that is making it thrive,” Cara said
proudly.

Cara and Cyrus came from
Messina, a country where the use of magic was forbidden. As a result, their
science had advanced even more rapidly than Earth’s, and Cara was a star
student.

“And channeling a little extra
light with my new lightweaver powers may have helped too,” Cara added. Only a few
months ago she had been horrified by her magic, and Cyrus lit up at the news
that she was choosing to embrace her potential.

“I’m so proud of you, baby sis,”
Cyrus said, beaming.

Cyrus gave her a hug, which,
after a surprised pause, she returned. “I miss you, Cy.”

“Stay safe, okay? Don’t let them
throw you over the edge or anything,” Cyrus said, only half joking.

The trip back to Arden was much
quicker than the journey to Arbor Aurum. By climbing down the golden ladder at
the right spot, they floated through the air and landed on the edge of the
forest near Silva.

When Valerie landed lightly on
her feet, she noticed that her brother was waiting for them. The first thing he
did was kiss Kanti like they’d been separated for weeks instead of a day.

Valerie looked at Cyrus, ready
to roll her eyes, but she saw that he was watching them with a slight smile, as
if he wished that they had that kind of relationship.

A little giggle surprised
Valerie. She whipped around to find the source and saw Emin, Cerise’s son.

“Where did you come from,
buddy?” she asked, kneeling in the soft dirt next to him.

“I followed you!” His eyes
sparkled with delight, and Valerie couldn’t help smiling back.

“A hitchhiker,” Cyrus said,
clearly enjoying Emin’s mischief.

“I was visiting the city with my
mom and I saw you. I knew you’d bring me on your adventures!” Emin said with
the confidence only a six-year-old can possess.

“Your family might worry about
you,” Valerie said.

Emin stuck out his bottom lip.
“They never let me do anything fun. I decided for myself to come with you, and
you can’t stop me.”

Cyrus laughed, and Valerie
suspected that Emin reminded him of himself when he was younger.

“What are we going to do with
you?” Kanti chimed in, having successfully peeled herself off of Henry.
“Gideon’s still in Arbor Aurum, and I doubt we can find that tree to take us
back there without him.”

“Azra will know how to get him
home safely,” Henry said. “I had a message from her asking us to visit the Capitol
as soon as you returned, so I was going to bring you to her now anyway. Cyrus
and Kanti, too.”

Valerie nodded and turned to Emin.
“Would you like to see the Capitol building? The most important Grand Masters
in Arden all work there.”

Emin’s eyes grew round. “The big
building with the gold roof?”

“That’s the one,” Cyrus said.

“Yes! I want to meet the Grand
Master of the Knights and see inside!” Emin was practically dancing with glee.

“It’s a long walk back, do you
want a ride?” Valerie asked him. When he nodded, she swung him up so that he
was sitting on her shoulders. “Now you have the best view of us all. Keep a
lookout for anything dangerous. You can be our guard.”

Emin let out a little squeal of joy,
and his weight on her shoulders grounded Valerie. She missed being around little
ones. They were so much more fun than grown-ups. Thinking about that reminded her
of little Ming, another child who Darling had saved back on Earth, and she
resolved to visit her as soon as she had a chance.

It wasn’t too far of a walk back
to The Horseshoe. When Emin saw the grounds, he insisted on jumping down from
Valerie’s shoulders and racing to the Capitol building himself.

Valerie chased after him, and
they burst through the front doors, laughing. Kanti, Cyrus, and Henry joined
them, and they all became quiet in the hush of the grand building.

When they reached Azra’s office,
Valerie gently knocked on the door and it swung open at her touch.

Azra stood in the little patch
of grass in the corner of her office with Summer, an ancient centaur Valerie
had met who helped them fight the Fractus at the Black Castle.

The patch of grass was a gift to
Azra from her husband, Odysseus. By stepping inside it, she could see a memory
of him that was so accurate it was almost as if he were alive.

“Should we wait for them to step
off?” Henry whispered.

Valerie shook her head. Kanti
showed Emin the magical maps on the walls of the office to distract him before
joining the rest of the group on the grass with Azra and Summer. Azra noticed
them first, and she smiled with wistful relief. Valerie was again struck by her
radiant bearing, in spite of the worried way her eyes flicked to each of their
faces.

Thank you for joining us so
quickly. There is much that needs to be said.

Summer patted Azra soothingly on
her back. Valerie watched the two closely, noticing the tenderness between
them, like sisters.

Azra turned her dark eyes to
Valerie, and her words flowed gently into her mind.
Several months ago, I discovered that a miracle had
happened. Something I wished for my whole life, but was never blessed to
receive. I am pregnant.

Joy swept through Valerie’s
entire being at Azra’s words. Azra was no longer the last unicorn in existence—no
longer alone. Valerie flung her arms around the unicorn’s neck, and Henry,
Kanti, and Cyrus piled on as well. When they pulled back, Valerie saw tears in
her friends’ eyes that matched her own. She didn’t think she’d ever cried from
joy before.

“How is this possible?” Kanti
asked.

Azra turned to Valerie.
I owe you a debt now that I can
never repay. When you used your vivicus power after Zunya attacked me last
year, you did more than save my life. You created new life within me then,
though I did not know until later what had happened.

Valerie remembered Zunya’s
attack vividly. Azra had protected her and Henry, and had nearly died as a result.
She shook her head, and bumps rose on her arms.

“I think you’re mistaken. I never
meant, never even thought—” Valerie stuttered.

“There can be no mistake,”
Summer interrupted. “We have consulted with powerful Healers and the People of
the Woods. This manifestation of power from a vivicus is possible. There are
legends.”

Elden suspected when he first
saw me after you used your magic to save me, but did not want to give me false
hope. It is true, Valerie. When you brought Sanguina back from the brink of
death, you also restored her humanity. When you saved me, you gave me the gift
of life.

Valerie’s eyes met Henry’s. He
was staring at her with awe. But Valerie trembled at the news. To have a power
inside her that she didn’t understand, that worked without her conscious
intention, was as terrifying as it was incredible.

Kanti put her arm around her
shoulders. “Doesn’t surprise me, Val. And so much magic could be in no better
hands than yours.”

Cyrus gave her a tight smile,
but he seemed as stunned as she was. He gripped her hand tightly, and she could
feel how cold his was in her own, which was burning hot.

Valerie heard a low voice in her
mind. It was Odysseus, the memory of Azra’s husband, was with them as well.
You have been told this so you
can be honored, not to cause you discomfort. If some part of my soul still
drifts through the universe, unable to leave Azra completely alone, the gift
you have given my wife would allow me now to rest. Our undying gratitude is
yours.

Valerie wished she could run
away from it all—from the beauty and the immensity of her power, and from what
it meant.

“Is there a way that we could
leave my part of the story out when you tell people this amazing news?” Valerie
asked.

Summer and Azra exchanged
glances. It was Summer who spoke. “News of the pregnancy has leaked. We don’t
know which of the Conjurors we consulted shared the news, but it has become
public.”

Oleander has called the Grand
Masters to meet three days hence to discuss whether I am fit to lead now.

“That’s ridiculous!” Kanti
almost shouted. “Are we living in the dark ages?”

Perhaps. My powers have vanished
with my pregnancy, but not my ability to advise. However, I will yield to the
decision of the Grand Masters.

“Let me speak to them,” Valerie
said. “We can’t take on the Fractus without your help in winning the support of
the Grand Masters.”

Azra nodded.
I have been authorized that I
may bring you, and you alone, with me to the meeting. But I cannot say if they
will give you a hearing.

“I’ll make them,”
Valerie said, not sure if it was panic or determination that wouldn’t let her
contemplate the possibility of losing Azra as the leader of Arden.

The next few days flew by. Emin
had come to stay with Valerie until his mom could pick him up, and his bright
presence was a welcome distraction from her anger with her father. The sound of
his singing wove through the house on the pink breath of Emin’s magic, and
Valerie, Henry and Oberon couldn’t help singing along.

The morning of the meeting with
the Grand Masters, Oberon confronted her as she snuck quietly out of her room
so as not to wake Emin, who was still sleeping in her bed.

“I don’t like that you’ll be
among the Grand Masters without my protection or Henry’s,” her father said in a
stubborn tone.

Valerie hadn’t confronted her
father about his role in the death of Dulcea’s parents, deciding to handle one
crisis at a time. But tense as she was, her anger burst out.

“I’m not sure I trust your
judgment, so it’s best that you won’t be there. I wouldn’t want you to kill
someone you decided was threatening me. I couldn’t live with that on my
conscience, and I don’t know how mom lived with the death of innocent people on
hers,” Valerie spat out.

The expression of shock and
horror mixed on Oberon’s face almost made Valerie wish she could retract her
words. But her father was adept at hiding what he felt, and he quickly schooled
his features.

“There are many whose lives I
ruined. I will live with that regret for all of my days, and try to atone,” he
said.

“Do you know Dulcea, a master in
the Society of Imaginary Friends? She took me in when I had no home on the
Globe. She was the first person to ever really take care of me, and now I have
to tell her that my father slaughtered her parents,” Valerie said.

Some of her anger had left her, replaced
by a hollow dread. Her friendship with Dulcea would never be the same.

Oberon started to reach for her,
but Valerie yanked her arm away and left. She decided to run to the Capitol
building. As her feet pounded the ground, she tried to erase the memory of her
father’s face and concentrate on what she was going to say to the Grand
Masters. But her anxieties about Oberon, her powers, the threat of the Fractus,
even Thai, wouldn’t leave her in peace.

When she arrived in Azra’s
office, she saw Gideon talking with the unicorn.

“I am glad you’re here,” he said
as she entered. “I came to tell Azra that, thanks to your words to the People
of the Woods, I believe we have brokered a tentative alliance against the
Fractus. If you are able to bring them the Byway, their loyalty will be assured.”

One significant piece of her
plan had fallen into place.

Their magic will be critical if
the tide turns against us among the Grand Masters.

Valerie turned sharply to face Azra.
“Did they really believe what Reaper said?”

Azra nodded, her mane brushing
against Valerie’s hand.

A group is discussing sending an
emissary to the Black Castle to negotiate terms with Reaper, but nothing has
been decided.

“How can this be?” Valerie’s
heart began to pound.

“Reaper told them a compelling
story,” Gideon said. “It is not too late to take control back and give the
Grand Masters a true vision for a better future.”